SEED BOMB WORKSHOP

SALT BEYOĞLU

JUNE 17, 2011 16.00

Urban inhabitants now have a tool for greening inaccessible and unused urban areas: seed bombs! imkanmekan will lead a free workshop at SALT Beyoğlu in which participants make clay seed balls based on farmer-philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka’s natural agriculture techniques and ideas around the return to natural farming. Seed bombs contain earth, dry clay, water and a mixture of seeds, and can be spread anywhere in the city their creators would like to see plants grow. Clay protects seed bombs from drying out, being blown away by the wind, or being eaten by mice or birds. When enough water passes and cracks their surface, seeds enter the germination phase. Wildflower seeds are widely used for seed bombs. imkanmekan’s Seed Bomb Workshop at SALT Beyoğlu will make a variety of flower, spice and vegetable seeds available.

“Guerilla Gardening” is nothing new: it is a term dating back to the 1970s. Guerilla gardening reclaims unused urban public space for planting. Some guerilla gardeners move at night and in secrecy, while others work during the day and involve local communities in their actions - an approach that increases regular care and the survival of plants. Planting edible plants in urban areas and harvesting them takes the idea of guerilla gardening to a new level. An urban action group planting edible plants communally and harvesting them for free, imkanmekan’s work references “the Diggers” of 1600s England. The impact of the Diggers has recently become more widespread, running parallel to discussions around permaculture, sustainability, eco-design and ecologically viable lifestyles.

imkanmekan is the collaborative work of Evren Uzer, Şebnem Şoher, Okay Karadayılar and Hakan Tüzün Şengün, and operates as a mediator for debates around the design of public space, organizes projects and experiments on different scales in public space design. As a research and production platform, imkanmekan organizes design workshops that encourage designers to think about application in public space for public good. Urban gardening and green activism have been the focus of some of imkanmekan’s work since 2009, with guerilla gardening and urban farming entering the collaborative’s agenda. imkanmekan’s work holds the potential to be disseminated throughout the city, through its ability to be imitated or built upon.